First round of radiation and chemo

John had his first round of radiation and chemo-therapy on Thursday and Friday (8^th and 9^th of July). He went in to the hospital on Thursday, received radiation treatments (about 15 minutes to set up and receive the radiation), and stayed overnight to receive the chemo-therapy. The chemo is delivered intravenously overnight. He was released from the hospital on Friday. I had a chat with him today (Saturday).

He reported that his nausea is not as bad as he expected. It seems to be well managed by the medication. He couldn’t eat on Friday, but slept well, and had a regular breakfast today. He even forgot he was on therapy a few times during the day. Apparently alcohol is not off the list of foods – and they even recommended Guiness since it has calories. He told me that he doesn’t like the taste of Guiness, but since his taste buds will be out of commission in a few weeks he figured that at least it will provide him with calories!

He will go in for radiation therapy 5 days a week (Monday to Friday) – with weekends off. It is only for a short time each day so he will likely be able to keep his activities up while his energy lasts. He was warned that he should not go into new environments, however, since his immune system will be severely weakened and shouldn’t expose himself to any new “bugs”. This means he will be able to visit Dorothy but not take her shopping.

Here's a photo of John with Charlie (John was trying to be a ventriloquist, but Charlie wasn't fooled!